Matthew Hart, Principal of The Lafayette Practice, speaks to The Financial Times

An interesting examination of US based LGBT Donors and our history and predicting trends.

“Since Rand Skolnick died from cancer in 2008, Terrence Meck has been using the funds his partner left to give away $1m a year, with half going to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth programmes and the rest to health initiatives.

For Meck, this honours the man he loved. However, his strategy also reflects a broader trend among gay philanthropists – their giving increasingly extends beyond LGBT causes.

For Meck, who makes grants through the Palette Fund, the funding allocation reflects his relationship with Skolnick. “We didn’t live an exclusively gay life. We were out and proud, but it didn’t define us,” he says. “And Rand’s family business was in vitamins and health, so the nutrition side was a big part of his life.”

Of course, philanthropists in the gay community make plenty of gifts to support their peers. “I keep giving because all LGBT people have to be on the front lines in winning their own equality,” says Tim Gill, the entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded Quark, the developer of page-layout software, and created the Gill Foundation in 1994.

As well as equality initiatives, programmes providing easier access to services such as health and education are also well funded. “LGBT people have always built their own institutions and communities of concern,” says Matthew Hart, founder of the Paris-based Lafayette Practice, whose clients include LGBT donors.”